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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Christmas Baking: Stained Glass Cookies

The holiday season can be very hectic for most, with parties,
guests, and a lot of cooking and baking to top it all off. It has been quite
similar here too and we have all thoroughly enjoyed the past few days. Christmas
eve was spent baking the Stained
Glass Cookies and our Intoxicated
Christmas Cake.

As an ardent follower of Martha Stewart, I am frequently
bombarded with gorgeous desserts, breads, crafts, etc., posted on her page. These
cookies were part of the drool-worthy holiday recipes and were dainty,
colorful, and almost too pretty to eat…yes, almost!

Ingredients (26
colored cookies +26 cut outs)

All-purpose flour – 1½ cups and a little more for rolling

Baking powder – ¼ teaspoon + ⅛ tsp

Unsalted butter* – ½ cup (1 stick) at room temperature (If
you have salted butter on hand, you can use that too)

Salt* – ⅛ tsp (If using salted butter, please do not add
more salt to the dough)

Sugar – ½ + ⅛ cups

Egg yolks - 2

Pure vanilla extract – ½ tbsp

Finely crushed hard candy (Jolly Rancher) in different
colors – ½ cup

Method

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt (if
using unsalted butter only).

Beat the butter and sugar, with an electric mixer on
medium-high speed, until the mixture is light and airy. Add the egg yolks and
vanilla and beat again. This step can be done by hand too, with a whisk.

Keeping the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour and
combine well/continue mixing by hand. At this stage you could use a wooden
spoon or spatula.

Once the dough comes together, use your hands to knead it
to make two discs.

Wrap them in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30
minutes.

After 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 350oF,
with the racks placed on the upper and lower thirds. Place one disc between a floured and folded parchment paper and roll it out to ⅛ inch thickness. Put the disc, along with the
parchment paper, into the refrigerator for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile work
with the other disc and return it to the refrigerator. The original recipe calls for Christmas themed cookie
cutters. Fall designs have been used here and you could pick any fancy shape
you like.

Cut out the main cookies to about 2-2½ inch
rounds/squares/desired shapes.

Place the cookies, one inch apart, on the cookie sheets.

Using the smaller shapes (Christmas/Fall/random shapes)
cut out the middles. Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes till they are
slightly set, but still light brown. Do remember to rotate the cookie sheets
midway through the baking. The cut out portions can be baked along side the
bigger ones.

Remove the cookies from the oven and fill the middles with
the crushed candies. Return to the oven and continue baking until the edges
brown a bit and the candy is completely melted. The smaller cookies may be done
by this time, if not they can be returned to the oven too.

Remove and allow the cookies to cool completely before
storing them in an airtight container. Bon Appètit.

Note:

The Jolly Rancher candies were available in the nearby
super market, so I did not have to go looking for an alternate. You could use
any other fruit-flavored hard candy instead.

To crush the candy, either use a mortar and a pestle or
place the candy in a zip lock back and bang away with a rolling pin!

About Us

We have been friends for a long time and we have done it all: bunked classes, watched movies, sleepovers, trips and more. Some friendships last only through the school or college years but looks like this one was meant to be…because we are still friends.
After having cooked for our families and friends for a few years, we had the urge to cook for others. This led to the idea of opening a restaurant called ‘Square Meals’, which would take patrons on a gastronomic journey through different parts of India. The restaurant never materialized and the next best thing was this blog.
The Square Meals blog provides taste-tested recipes for you to try in your own kitchens. Join us on our culinary journey as we share some of our mouth-watering creations with foodies all over the world.